FITCHBURG -- The Fitchburg Art Museum may have to change its name to the Fitchburg Public Art Museum, with all of the public art installations it's bringing to the city.

Installed Tuesday in the museum's courtyard on Elm Street are three kinetic welded-steel sculptures by George Mossman Greenamyer, one of the most successful public artists in the country, with 30 works of art outdoors in American cities from Anchorage, Alaska, to Miami, Fla., said Director Nick Capasso.

Greenamyer, also a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, where he set up and ran their sculpture program for 30 years, is best known for his giant railroad sculpture portraying a mythical history of New Jersey at Pennsylvania Station in New York City.

"We want everybody to get something out of this artwork," said Associate Curator Mary Tinti, joining Fitchburg Art Museum Director Nick Capasso by three new public sculptures by artist George Mossman Greenamyer on Wednesday.
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His pieces in Fitchburg are a bit more personal, Capasso said, and outline some of his biggest frustrations and pet peeves.

"A Monument to Frustration and Low Achievement" portrays five bureaucrats at identical desks with computers, not accomplishing anything. On the wind tail are phrases like, "The computers are down," "The person who takes care of that isn't in today," and "all of the lingo for excuses that stop you from working. It's sickening," said Greenamyer 74, in a telephone interview from his home in Marshfield.

Greenamyer said he was born a welder and blacksmith, and that all of his works are carefully engineered, because they rotate in the wind.

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"Big Box" is a protest about how big-box stores are ruining America, and hints at "what's ultimately worshiped in this country -- money," said Capasso.

"In the museum world, in the art world, we strive to really make artwork accessible. We want everybody to get something out of this artwork," said Associate Curator Mary Tinti. "But there are some in the art world who speak a language that can be a little bit high-brow, and also can be full of jargon and vague speech patterns and words that really don't add up or make sense.

Fitchburg Art Museum Director Nick Capasso and Associate Curator Mary Tinti talk about the three new sculptures by artist George Mossman Greenamyer at the museum on Wednesday.
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Emblazoned on the wind tail of "Ten Curators Chanting in the Cathedral of Vagueness," which pokes fun at these folks and this language, are phrases like, "It is the signature of time" and "It is the harmonics of dislocation."

Greenamyer said some of the language he hears from art snobs is "disgusting" and "not meant for the lay person."

"Art should be understood by people, or why does it exist?" he said.

Greenamyer takes pride in the accessibility of his work.

"It's accessible to people who did go to art school, and people who did not, which is almost everybody," he said. "I don't want to be esoteric and difficult."

Capasso said the circular motion of the pieces is a metaphor "for how this stuff never changes, spinning in circles.

George Mossman Greenamyer used his sculptures to outline some of his biggest frustrations and pet peeves.
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The pieces in Fitchburg are on loan and will be on display for about a year, Capasso said, and he plans to continuously fill the courtyard space with sculptures.

He and Greenamyer met while Capasso worked at the deCordova Museum in Lincoln, where Greenamyer's work has been displayed on numerous occasions.

"I've learned that you can take the boy out of the sculpture park, but you can't take the sculpture park out of the boy -- so we're going to have a little one here in Fitchburg," Capasso said.

Capasso said he aims to beautify and call attention to the space, as he intends to shift the main entrance of the museum from Merriam Parkway to the courtyard entrance that is now only used for schools and group tours.

He also aims to beautify the neighborhood, "and really show this area of the city as a campus for the arts."

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